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I need to do basic editing of wave files: trim, fade, amplify, normalize, but with the ability do do these for each channel separately. Unfortunately Audacity does not seem to satisfy that last requirement, or I cannot find out how to make a selection in one channel only. (E.g. I have a stereo recording of a press conference, with the right channel very weak, and I need to be able to amplify channel R more than channel L).

Someone who works in a recording studio recommended Reaper, which is billed as a "audio recording and editing" software, but it seems to only do the former. After I figured out how to select a part of a track with the mouse (dragging doesn't) I realized it has no commands to fade in, fade out, amplify etc. It seems to be a powerful multitrack recorder, but I can't find a single editing feature except maybe Cut

I checked Cool Edit Pro, found out it became Adobe Audition and sells for 422 Euro plus VAT, ok, next.

So what else is there? Doesn't have to be free; I was fully prepared to pay the $60 for Reaper, if it did the things I need.

I use Total Recorder Pro for recording and editing audio files. They also have a free version, but I am not sure how stripped down the free version is in comparison to the professional offering. Perhaps that or a program such as GoldWave will work for you. I have tried out the trial version of GoldWave out of curiosity and was generally pleased with the feature set.

I use Total Recorder Pro for recording and editing audio files. They also have a free version, but I am not sure how stripped down the free version is in comparison to the professional offering. Perhaps that or a program such as GoldWave will work for you. I have tried out the trial version of GoldWave out of curiosity and was generally pleased with the feature set.

Thanks ,wfuss. I use TotalRecorder Pro as well, but it doesn't have any editing features to speak of, except trimming.

It supports VST plugins and has ASIO support - both of which are major pluses for me.

There's a pretty comprehensive list of free audio editors that can be found here courtesy of Hongkiat.com

Take a peek. There's bound to be something that you'll like.

Another good choice is Sound Forge Audio Studio by SONY. Info and full details here.

You can get it for about $65 USD - or as part of the Imagination Studio Suite 2 for about $150. The Creative Suite offers a huge amount of bang for the buck. Of especial interest for musicians is Acid, which is SONY's loop-based composition tool. Check out the details on that here.

Not that it will solve all your problems with Audacity, but for the one you mention, go to the Audio Track button with an arrow and drop-down menu (on the left of your audio track). Click and select Split Stereo Track. Adjust levels and whatever else independently. Select your 2 tracks and use Mix and Render from the Tracks menu to make them a stereo track again.

I tried a few of the free editors, but when I installed the Sony release of Sound Forge, I was sold. It's a pleasure to work with, all the commands are where you expect them, it's fast and (unlike, say, anything by Adobe) it's even relatively lean. In other words, Sony managed not to spoil the good piece of software that SF was, which is a rare occurrence as corporate takeovers of software go

And quite by accident I managed to find another reason to drop Audacity I had a wave file, about two hours long, from which I needed to clip the first hour. I did that in Audacity, since as I was very familiar with it. Audacity cut the file, but when it exported the remaining part, it created a 60 minute loop of a three-second snippet, repeating over and over. In other words, it clobbered the recording. From then on, it was Sound Forge all the way.

I have seen mentions of a free audio editor named Power Sound Editor Free. I never took the time to check it out, and then I saw Free Audio Editor 2010. Based on the download file size and screenshots, this appears to be the exact same software (with different names?) on at least 3 sites.

-Powerful audio recording feature.-Edit audio files visually Apply various effects easily.-Powerful noise reduction tool Easy to use interface will get you started editing in just minutes.-Real-time effect preview is supported. -Easy to use bookmark and region manager.-Supports a number of file formats including wav (multiple codecs), mp3, wma, ogg and many more. -Burn your sound files to CD.-Tools include speech synthesis (text-to-speech). -Completely Free!

Looks pretty good for a freeware, but I want to emphasize I personally haven't tried these audio editors. Just passing along the info FWIW.